Building an Ancestor Altar

[@hairscythe2257]

There's this idea that you can never modernize magical practices in some witchcraft circles. But for me, a huge part of my ancestor work was with my geeky punk dad, who died when I was very young. So playing the Mountain Goats and Against Me records he left near his altar, and wearing his old shirts of his favorite comic, or leaving him a cup of Sprite are all just as valid as any other kind of ancestor work. For me, at least.

[@pomegranateandivy9833]

This is fantastic! 🤗 I bet he loves this so much.

[@hairscythe2257]

@@pomegranateandivy9833 thank you

[@NecaylPerry]

Thank you for sharing! The idea to incorporate the mountain goats (my favorite band) into my practice just opened up a huge door for me!❤

[@whitneymccuiston6236]

I have multiple ancestral altars, my great grandma's is probably the most elaborate out of all of them, much like she was in life. I have multiple things that belonged to her on her altar, like her senior memory book which will be 100 years old in 2023. I also have given her money, flowers, candy, she's got a key since I work with Hekate. I have one ancestor who was very frugal when she was alive and she doesn't require much and almost prefers me to not add too much to her altar. It's fun working with them and seeing how their altars have all developed differently according to their personalities.

[@starotemvkapse]

I do have ancestral altar for a while now. I'm of mixed heritage, Czech and Cuban. It was always an struggle for me but I'm getting better at this. I'm using white candles, plants, gemstones, shells, Florida water, incense, pictures, water, usually fresh coffee, sometimes other offerings like sweets or fruit or tea, alcohol, books, letters to my ancestors and so on... ❤️ Because of my mixed heritage I have to play with it a little. 😁 For both sides.

[@Honeydewple]

my grandpa is in the process of passing away as i write this. hearing the message that nourishing yourself is nourishing your ancestors is what i needed to hear. I did a tarot reading recently asking about my grandpa and it told me the legacy of him i get to pass on is just that, the nourishment of the next generation.

[@Fauna-gt5ii]

“One day you are going to be an ancestor” - that really put ancestor veneration into perspective. It always seemed like something only people close to their families would be able to do but I’d be so excited if some descendant of mine decided to ask those of us on the other side for help!! Thank you Frankie, you always give lots of different ways to see things :) Also, I might have imagined it but I think in ur intro ‘ancestor’ is spelt ‘ancester’ 😂😂😂. I hope you don’t mind that I’m pointing it out, ik ppl sometimes find it annoying 😅

[@sunshine_blond320]

This was so helpful, I honestly have been struggling with how I should go about doing stuff for my ancestors. Your honestly a really great person for sharing this information for those of us who are still kinda confused on stuff

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Definitely look into your heritage and your family tree and seek connection that way. I personally don't always have something of that family member's but if I know what their greatest passion in life was, I will try to use a symbolic thing with a photo. It's something you'll see at Dia de Los Muertos for example. I found cute items at Michaels or the craft section at Walmart and after cleansing and blessing them set them up alongside everything else.

[@dexaria]

Super interesting that you keep your ancestors and the gods separate! The gods I honour are deeply tied to my ancestral roots so it seems only natural to have them all in one place. I 100% agree with having things that were passed down on the altar tho I also have some in other places where I’ll use them. For example, the bowls and teapot I inherited from my grandma are in the kitchen where they get used regularly

[@laurendesiree854]

I put candles a glass of water and incense. Occasionally I put out a small home cooked meal. My ancestors are pretty laid back and i think the cool thing about ancestral alters is that the offerings are unique to each family. I practice hoodoo and connecting with ancestors and welcoming them into my space has helped me with understanding and connecting with them as well as furthering my craft and abilities. It helps me to have regular rituals and helps me pay attention to my spiritual hygiene.

[@ChaoticWitchAunt]

Yes yes yes in terms of offerings being unique to family!!!

[@tallgeek1131]

I don't have an ancestor alter, but I've always had one shelf on my bookcase in my room that I put pictures and things from my family on. Has been since I was a kid. I was doing what my grandparents do (they have multiple shelves on theirs bc there's lots of pictures and photo albums), but I do love my special shelf that I've always associated with my family and things passed down from my family. So it's a bit like your mom's window sill in that regards. Some of the things on my shelf are pictures from when I was a kid, a drawing a babysitter did for me when I was 7, various small figurines that have been gifted by a couple of people, and a piece of a statue I found one day while playing in the dirt at my grandparents' farm from when I was 10. I do plan on making it a bit more specifically an alter at some point, as well as make room for some of my great-grandmother's crochet creations my grandma just gave me.

[@andromeda1515]

Ive been really pulled to make an ancestor alter recently. After I started practicing witchcraft I thought about doing it for my grandpa but this year I had my grandma pass too and I guess that's probably why I've been so pulled to it recently. This video gave me some great tips on where to start, thanks :))

[@frogwitch95]

Frankie- 2022 is the year I started practicing and your content has informed SO much of my growth and knowledge. I am so so thankful for you and what you share here ♡ happy new year!!! ♡♡

[@margaridavelhinho1478]

I've been meaning to tell you but I'm so so so grateful that you get to share things about your Italian folk magic bc that helped me find about my family!!! I discovered that my Portuguese ancestors actually participated in folk witchcraft (unknowingly) like the mau-olhado/quebranto cure with water and olive oil :)) So yeah! Ty for this video, it gave me ideas of how to incorporate their significance while cooking PT food!

[@sydneylambert5437]

Thank you for this! I was really lost on how to start ancestor work (but I did learn they also really like coffee). I'll definitely be reading the book you mentioned, thanks again 💜

[@SilentSong123]

My grandma had this old fold down desk she's gone now and every time I see it I think of her. Before things went south between us I used to tell her all my ideas for my stories and she's listen to me play my recorder. Maybe honoring the few good memories can help me move on.

[@callumfriends395]

I made ancestor alter yesterday for my dad and he loves it

[@starleytapia388]

My mothe has a shelf in the living room where everyone can see her dovtion to La Virgen and honoring her past relatives.. so for my own alter still have some organizing to do

[@TheGalacticGrizzly]

Those tarot cards are absolutely gorgeous!! 😍

[@therealactualspiderman]

i love your content so much ITS SO INSPIRATIONAL AND HELPFUL OMG 🤭🤭 do you think you’ll ever do a deity work video on your experience with cernunnos? i recently started working with him and would love to hear your perspective!

[@tracymichelle2624]

Omg i just got that book in december! Crazy how this video popped up after ive been reading and applying it!

[@hollo0o583]

Finally a video that attempts to explain ancestor worship in a chrisian/Catholic context. I feel incredibly uncomfortable with ancestor worship because most of the time it’s POC who explain how it’s done in their tradition but that isn’t my tradition and nothing comparable to how european people remember their dead.

[@SilentSong123]

Ancestor veneration is something I can get behind more so than deity worship cause my gran was real. I know gran loved coffee I even have a picture of her on a mug. Despite everything that's happened maybe she's different now at least I like to imagine it that way. Dogmatic religion and trump took my grandma from me ancestor veneration is almost like a second chance.

[@sandyblack9698]

May you have a merry New year my dear..blessings from Devon England..🌛🌕🌜🤎

[@bonsai-is-a-lie]

currently trying to connect with my great-grandmother. my mom always says she feels like she has watched over her her whole life and would do the same for me should i reach out to her. im not catholic, but my mom's side is very much irish catholic, and specifically mary was very important in my mom's household, so i asked mother mary for help with connecting with my great grandmother. hopefully it works out 👍

[@kalyan8094]

Happy New year for tomorrow

[@haylee7951]

Thank you so much! I have thought about finding pictures of my passed loved ones and setting them up on a shelf somewhere and maybe lighting a candle with it once a week but I feel like that’s a bit. Confusing for me because at 18 I found out that my family wasn’t my biological family. So like. My grandparents that I miss weren’t biological. And I don’t know any of my actual bio-dads passed family so. Idk it gets messy I think. But I’m so thankful you’ve provided us w this info so I can look into it more

[@miramari732]

Adoptive family is still family and you can certainly connect with them (you are accepted into lineage, so don't worry about that). If you want know about your bio lineage and you don't have any data to begin with, skip it straight to DNA ancestry test if you can afford it. You will at least know countries or regions of origin so you can try to connect to living and dead community of that place, learn some practices and maybe find old photo or painting with someone suprisingly similar to you :)

[@jojomarie3040]

Frankie I feel a lil called out though but thank you love 💓

[@msthornback7935]

My advent wreath and other such Christian pieces go on my ancestor altar since my family tree is VERY Christian, like full of pastors Christian.

[@lilycosta140]

Hi I kinda wanted your opinion on adding your families ashes on your ancestor alter. After my parents have passed I've been left with their ashes and their parents ashes and I was wondering if it would be a good spot for them on an ancestor alter

[@kels1827]

Hi! Your videos have helped me learn a lot about the witch community and etiquette!! I’m sure you get this a lot but I need some guidance… I prayed to Hecate to show me a sign(I don’t trust my brain so I have a hard time visualizing) and she showed me the sign 3 times… should I be worried? Sorry to bother you😅

[@pomegranateandivy9833]

No worries. That's pretty good! Just go on. 🙂

[@juniperdovah]

With offerings, how do you dispose of them to replenish? I never really knew the right way to dispose. If its organic I usually say thank you to it for doing it's job and put it in compost. But I wanna give more offerings and feel im not doing it right lol

[@kthearcher3357]

I gave the moon water to my peace lily before a cat got into it , which luckily I had forgotten about.

[@BroodingStoriesAfter_Nightfall]

Pleas use protection and be specific when bringing your ancestors into your practice remember not all ancestors are of your highest good and moral standards. Not all ancestors get along with other ancestors too and you can or cannot keep them on a balanced standpoint (depends really).

[@ladycalathieloropherion]

Do the Ancestors that you honor have to be Blood-related to you?

[@claire5399]

Adopted at birth. I have always been told no

[@kukumuniu5658]

My ancestors hate me :/...

[@Anniekelseyty]

saint mary you mean mother mary.

[@ChaoticWitchAunt]

Well, I said Mother Mary for a while then someone told me it was better to say Saint Mary.

[@miramari732]

There is lot of Saint Marys (I found abt. 20 different women with this title, 4 in the Bible alone: Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas and Mary of Bethany), and different christian denominations call Virgin Mary different titles so there's no good or bad way of reffering to her. Most widely recognizeable is Virgin Mary and Mary mother of Christ.